Softened by a Bruise
by Little Minamino
Summary: Lately Sasuke has been noticing that a certian pink haired teammate of his has been showing up to training with mysterious bruises. Where did she get them and why? Is she really just clumsy like she says? oneshot


Softened by a Bruise

Sasuke didn't usually notice things that he didn't feel would help him get stronger. He only ever thought that they would slow him down. Things like girls, festivals, sweets, friends, and other things that fell into the same sort of category. Unfortunately, when he had been placed on team seven he was forced to open up just a bit for the sake of training. In order to get stronger from this point on would require working as a team. So as the time went on and he and his team had more missions it shouldn't have surprised him that he began to take more notice of them. But it did…

Sasuke leaned heavily against the red painted wood of the bridge team seven always met on. He was a bit irritated because Naruto was whining about Sakura being late. "Shut up, dobe," he said as he closed his eyes. "She probably just slept in."

"Gomen!" Sakura shouted as she quickly sprinted across the bridge to meet her teammates in the middle. "Sorry I'm late. I slept in."

Sasuke nodded in acceptance before he spared one eye to give Naruto an 'I told you so' glance. However, in order to look at his blond friend he had to look past the pink haired girl. It shouldn't have surprised him that the first thing he noticed was the make up covered purple bruise only just barely peeking out from under her shirt sleeve. But it did, and not just because of the bruise. Since when had he started paying that close of attention to his teammates?

"Sakura," Sasuke suddenly spoke, startling both of the others on the bridge. "What happened?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked in confusion until she remembered the bruise. "Oh, I tripped and hit my coffee table when I realized that I was late."

"Ne, ne Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "Didn't you run into your door a few days ago too? You sure are clumsy."

Sakura chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I guess I am…"

Sasuke sent her a confused glare. Now that he thought about it Sakura did seem to get hurt a lot. It seemed like every time she showed up for training she had fallen or run into something. His glare darkened into one of suspicion. What was she really trying to hide?

Silence reined over the small group for a few more hours until Kakashi finally decided to grace his team with his presence with a stupid excuse about saving a cat from a tree in the Daimyo's backyard.

For some reason Sasuke watched his female teammate much more closely during today's training then he usually would while on a dangerous mission. He was watching to see how she moved. Surprisingly he found out that she was rather graceful and limber. She could execute many difficult gymnastic sequences without stumbling once. He nodded discreetly. That was it. She really was hiding something. After all there was no way she could possibly injure herself as often as she said if she could move that well.

XXXXXXXXX

Sakura was a bit nervous. She had finally noticed that Sasuke had been acting strangely for the past few days. More then once she had caught him watching her, more like analyzing her, and she could almost feel his narrowed gaze as he counted her new bruises every morning. There was only one explanation she could find for his new found interest in her. He suspected something. In all honesty she was surprised that it actually took him so long to figure out that something was up. She only hoped he would just let it drop and not do anything about it.

"Sakura, I need to talk to you."

Sakura sighed inwardly. 'Well so much for that…'

Plastering a wide fake smile onto her lips Sakura turned to face the only boy she had ever truly loved. "Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"Where are you getting those bruises?"

'Wow,' Sakura thought. 'He's really blunt about things like this, isn't he?'

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked innocently. "I told you that I got this bruise by falling down the stairs."

Sasuke snorted. "Don't mess with me, Sakura," he said with a roll of his eyes. "You and I both know that you aren't that clumsy."

"Ehehehe," Sakura chuckled nervously. "No, no. I really am rather clumsy. I just happen to move better when I'm focusing on it is all…"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, unconvinced. "Whatever."

Sakura nearly cried in relief when the raven haired boy shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off in the direction of his own apartment.

'That was much to close for comfort…'

XXXXXXXXX

The next day dawn seemed to come much too early for Sakura's liking and she jerked her navy blue covers over her head to block out the sun's rays.

"Sakura!" Her mother's voice called from down stairs. "You're going to be late dear!"

Sakura sighed and threw away the covers revealing a badly bruised left eye. "Hai, kaa-san! I'll be down in a minute!"

Rolling out of her bed she quickly made her way to her connecting bathroom. Sometimes it paid to be the only child at home. You get almost everything you want. Those thoughts were quickly pushed from her mind, however, when she saw how badly her eye had swollen during the night.

"Crap," she muttered. "There is no way that I'll be able to pass this off as less then what it really is…" Leaning forwards she studied the nearly black flaw and whistled. "Man, they must have been really ticked if they were able to hit me that hard…"

"Sakura?"

"Hai kaa-san! I'm coming!" Quickly she did her best to hide the worst of the bruise before she jerked her clothes on over her black and blue spotted body. "I am so glad that I decided to take a shower last night."

Trotting down stairs the pink haired girl did her best to grab breakfast and leave without being seen by her parents.

"Sakura!" her mother exclaimed in shock. "What happened!"

'This is not working out the way I had planned.' Sakura thought before she turned her eyes away from the door to look at her mother. "Nothing really kaa-san," she replied. "It was just a bit of a training accident. It looks a lot worse then it is."

Mrs. Haruno shook slightly but nodded her head anyway. "If you say so, baby."

Sakura rolled her eyes at being called 'baby' as she reached out and grabbed the door knob. "I'll see you after training kaa-san."

"Ok," Mrs. Haruno answered as the door began to shut. "Be careful…"

XXXXXXXXXX

'Like hell she's telling me she ran into something today!' Sasuke thought in anger as he saw his pink haired teammate approach the bridge, the dark blue ring around her eye perfectly visible even at such a far distance. He would have liked nothing better then to run over, grab her shoulders, and shake her until she finally spilled about who it was that was hurting her, but that was not something that Uchiha Sasuke did and there was no way he was going to start now.

As Sakura continued to get closer, he noticed the slight off color of her skin. His eyes narrowed dangerously. Sakura was rather good at hiding the bruises that she received, especially those on her face, and if the make up she was wearing didn't even begin to cover the dark purple blotch he was afraid to find out what it truly looked like underneath the covering.

Sakura glanced up at Sasuke carefully, afraid that he would finally loose his patience and make her tell him everything. She was both relieved and disappointed to find his gaze not focused on her at all, rather starring off into the space in front of him. She sighed almost audibly. At least he wasn't saying anything.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted in shock. "What happened! Did somebody hurt you!"

"No, Naruto," she replied. "I just…" 'Just what?' she asked herself. 'I'm out of excuses!'

"…Hit my…uh…hit my door knob…"

"Again?" Naruto asked. "You hit it yesterday too! You really ought to start being more careful Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded. "I will Naruto. I promise."

Sasuke said nothing. He didn't even turn his eyes to face his comrades, but if you looked real close you could just barely make out the fire of anger in his deep coal eyes. Who ever had been hurting her would pay, and they would pay dearly.

XXXXXXXXX

Sakura groaned as she entered the gates of Konoha a week later. How come every mission she and her team had always seemed to go wrong? Slowly she made her way to her house, clumsily crossing the street into an ally that exited next to her home. This last mission had left her exhausted.

It had started out just like every other escort mission they had had, but it had turned out just like the rest of them as well. Carefully she rubbed her thigh were an enemy nin had caught her with a kunai. A light grin crossed her face at the memory. Sasuke had practically torn him apart. Her grin swiftly changed into a frown as she reminded herself that he only did it because he was supposed to protect his teammates.

'The ally seems abnormally long today…' Sakura groaned when she realized that she was caught in a genjutsu. 'Can't they leave me alone just once?'

As several figures stepped out of the shadows to block her path, she knew that she would not be getting home as soon as she would like.

"Hello Sakura-chan," a mocking voice called from the group. "On your way home?"

"Yes," Sakura responded. "As a matter of fact I am." She leaned against the wall of one of the surrounding buildings for support. "Now if you don't mind I'm really tired. It's been a long day and I would really like to go to bed, Ami-san."

"Oh? Well then that will just make it easier for us to take you out," Another voice responded as a curly red headed girl stepped out in front of the rest of the girls that had been hiding. She was taller then Sakura but still shorter then Sasuke and her dark brown eyes held a look of utmost disgust for the candy haired girl before her. She was wearing a rather reviling version of the basic chunin uniform and her Konoha hatai-ate was tied around her revealed left thigh like a guarder.

"Usually I wouldn't mind standing here and allowing you all to beat on me, Koniki, but I have to get home," Sakura said with a yawn. "I have to see to Hokage-sama early tomorrow morning to report on my mission with my team. So if you'll all excuse me I'll-."

She didn't get to finish as a kunai streaked past her face leaving a thin red line along her left cheek. Sakura's eyes widened and she stared at the smirking chunin as Koniki twirled another kunai on her left pointer finger. Reaching up Sakura ran a shaky hand along the cut before pulling back to find it covered in blood. She was in shock. In all the years that these girls had bothered her they had never actually drawn any weapons.

"Awe, is little Sakura gonna cry?" Koniki taunted. "Would you like a tissue?"

Sakura's emerald green eyes hardened dangerously as her short pink locks flowed in the slight breeze. "You wanna play rough?" she snarled. "That's fine by me."

Koniki flinched back at the venom that laced the younger girl's voice. "D-don't pretend to be tough!" she cried in anger. "You're nothing but a weakling!"

Sakura laughed harshly. "It seems that you have forgotten who my teammates are." Her eyes cracked with green fire. "I can assure you that the little academy girl you used to pick on has grown quite a bit in the last year."

"Brat!" A blond named Nakita spoke up. "You think you're so great, but you aren't worth anything!"

"Yeah," Lani, another blond added. "Just because you're on the same team as Sasuke-kun doesn't mean you're as good as he is. I'll bet you're even worse then that idiot Naruto."

Sakura growled as she fell into a stance. "No one is allowed to call Naruto an idiot but me."

"Ooh," Ami grinned. "Sticking up for the loser? Have you decided to give up on Sasuke-kun then?"

Sakura snorted. "You wish."

"Fine then," Koniki responded. "We'll just have to get you out of the way then. You aren't all that fun to play with lately anyway."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and she jumped aside just in time to avoid the barrage of kunai and shurinken the mob of girls launched her way. "What the hell is your problem!" Sakura shrieked. "Are you trying to kill me!"

"Not really but it would be a bonus if we did," was Koniki's dark response.

'Oh man!' Sakura thought as she continued to dodge the girls' attacks. 'This is bad! What the hell kind of ninja are they anyway! Attacking a fellow konoichi like this!'

At last one of the kunai connected with her already injured leg and she fell crashing into the ally in a painful lump. Her head shot up. "What are you doing! Let me leave!"

"Feh," Ami scoffed. "As if we'll let you go. You haven't had your lessons for a week after all."

Fear filled Sakura's stomach and she yanked the kunai from her thigh before she stood in another stance holding out the bloody knife as a defense.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura," Ami mock sighed as she shook her head. "Why are you trying to fight back? You won't win."

"Ch," Sakura responded shakily. "That's only because there's twelve of you. If it was only you, Ami, I could be done with this in less then a minute."

Ami growled, "You're going to regret saying that!" Angrily she shot forward, the rest of the gang following swiftly behind.

Sakura said nothing as she dodged Ami's fist. 'I have to remember my training,' she thought. 'The girls and I have been practicing this!'

Shifting her chakra into her eyes, Sakura watched as the group of girls seemed to slow just enough for her to predict their moves.

'Left!' After ducking the round-house from her left Sakura jerked back just in time to avoid an elbow to her face. Unfortunately she moved right into the snap kick aimed at her back. Crying out, the genin fell to her knees, pain filling her senses. Biting her lip to hold back the pain, Sakura dropped to the ground and rolled to her right; out of the path of a fierce ax kick.

Ami growled in frustration. "This is getting us no where!"

"Oi!" Koniki shouted at the other girls. "Step it up!"

"Hai!"

Sakura gasped as the girls' speed increased dramatically until even her chakra enhanced eyes couldn't slow their movements enough. 'I can't keep up!' she thought in fear as blow after blow rained down upon her tired body. 'Somebody help!'

Finally the blows stopped and Sakura lay gasping on the ground as they backed away. Blood slipped slowly out of many kunai and shurinken wounds as her soft, pale skin began to grow purple with more bruises.

"Why do you even bother?" Ami asked. "If you would just leave Sasuke-kun's team we would leave you alone."

"I…" Sakura paused as she climbed trembling to her feet. "I…want to be on their team. Not just because Sasuke-kun is there, but because of Naruto and Kakashi-sensei." She lifted her head so that she could look the girls in the face. "They are all my friends. My family. I couldn't live if I knew that they all got hurt because I wasn't there to help. I…I know I'm not much help anyway, but I really do try. In the beginning I took these beatings because I thought he might notice and be concerned, but now…" Tears began to fill her eyes. "Now…I just want to be by the sides of my truest friends!"

"Truest friends?" Koniki asked mockingly. "Don't make me laugh forehead girl! Why would Sasuke-kun want to be friends with you?"

"I don't know," Sakura said as she turned to face the other girl. "Why don't you ask him? Ask him why he is my friend and not yours. Or how about why he doesn't care for you at all."

Koniki's eyes narrowed. "What do you know!" She screamed as she through a quick fist at her. "I'm a million times better then you will ever be!"

Time seemed to slow down as Sakura watched Koniki's fist fly closer to her already bruised and bloody face. She didn't have enough energy to dodge so she simply stood there waiting for the blow to hit. 'Sasuke-kun…'

Suddenly a black blur appeared in front of Sakura's battered body before it fiercely caught Koniki's fist and threw her back.

"Aahhh!" Ami shouted in the place of her dazed friend. "Who are you! You will pay!"

"Is that so?" a menacing voice asked from in front of Sakura. "I find that impossible to believe."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't hard to recognize that voice; she heard it everyday. "Sasuke-kun…" she whispered out through bruised lips.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ami squealed. "Konichiwa! I made you some cookies!"

Sasuke glared at her. "What do you think you're doing?"

Ami blinked. "Eh? What do you mean, Sasuke-kun?"

The boy's eyes narrowed even more. "This girl is my teammate."

"Oh, yes," Ami said in realization. "I know. We've been trying to make her leave your team but she said she won't." Ami grinned and waved her hand in the air. "Don't worry Sasuke-kun, She'll leave your team soon enough and you won't have to deal with her again!"

"You all are forcing her off of my team?" His voice darkened just a slight bit but Ami didn't notice.

"Uh-huh!" She said with satisfaction. "And when she's gone I'll take her place just like you wanted from the beginning Sasuke-kun!"

"Listen to me," Sasuke growled. "All of you! If you so much as look at Sakura again I'll make you hurt! I don't care if you are girls!"

Ami flinched back but Koniki inched forward slightly. "Sasuke-kun," She said sweetly. "Why would you want her on your team when you could have me? I'm already a chunin. Besides, it's not like she really cares for you! All she is doing is stringing you along! Just like with that freaky thick brows boy and that idiot Naruto! She's probably even after Neji-kun and the other genin boys being the slut she is!"

"Leave," Sasuke told her darkly. "Now."

Koniki shivered in terror before she nodded and ran after her group that had already left her behind.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked as he turned to face his female teammate. Sakura nodded, her face turned down towards the ground. Annoyed Sasuke reached out and lifted her face by her chin. "I said, are you alright?"

"H-hai, Sasuke-kun," She responded, trying to hide her tears from him. "I-I'm alright."

"Hn," was all Sasuke said before he dropped his hand and turned away.

Sakura stood dumbly in the same position; watching the blue clad boy walk away.

Sasuke had barely gone three feet before he glanced over his shoulder at the immobile Sakura.

"Well?" he asked. "Are you going to walk or do I have to carry you to the hospital over my shoulder?"

Sakura opened her mouth to tell him she could walk but nothing came out as darkness claimed her and her body sunk swiftly towards the ground. Sasuke was there to catch her in an instant. "You're annoying…"

XXXXXXXXX

"So how long has this been going on?"

"Hn."

"That's not an answer Sasuke-teme!"

"…"

"Don't shrug at me! This is serious!"

"Probably since she first got assigned to our team."

"That long? But it's been almost a year!"

"Sakura-san!"

"Oi, thick-brows, don't slam the door! She's sleeping!"

"Hn, like your yelling is doing her any good."

"Who asked you Neji!"

"Stop it!"

"Hai, Tenten."

"Oi Tenten-san! How is she?"

"I'm not sure Ino, I just arrived."

"Do you think she's going to eat that?"

"She's unconscious so I doubt it."

"Thanks Shikamaru!"

"That was an observation! Not an invitation you fa-."

"Don't say that Ino."

"O-ohayo m-mina-san."

"Ohayo Hinata-chan!"

"Naruto's still as loud as ever I see."

"Shut up Kiba!"

"I think she's waking up."

Everyone turned to stare at Shino in surprise before they turned their attention to the stirring figure on the single bed by the window.

"Ahh," Sakura moaned as she placed a bandaged hand to her forehead. "What happened…?"

"You were attacked in an ally Sakura-chan," Naruto spoke up. "Sasuke-teme brought you here to the hospital."

"Eh?" Sakura asked in surprise, not expecting her question to be answered. "What are you all doing here?"

"We came to make sure you're alright duh!" Ino said as she rolled her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, forehead girl."

"But, Neji-san's group is here as well?"

"You're a very observant person aren't you?" Neji asked sarcastically.

"Be nice," Tenten said as she nudged him in the ribs. "We may not know you all that well but we're still your friends."

"Well, we hope you get well soon Sakura," Ino said as she grabbed Hinata and Tenten by their forearms. "See you later."

"Huh?" Sakura asked her green eyes wide. "But you just got here. Where are you going?"

"Oh," Tenten answered. "Just somewhere."

"We have a previous engagement." Hinata continued, an uncharacteristic smirk on her normally soft face. "We'll be back soon." Her pale eyes glinted with something akin to anger.

Once the three girls were gone the boys all gave a collective shudder.

"Wow," Naruto said breaking the silence. "I never knew girls could be that scary."

"Hn," Neji said. "You obviously have never had fan girls."

XXXXXXXXXX

It had been several hours since her friends had come to visit and Sakura now sat up in her bed watching the sun sink below the blood-shot horizon. She sighed in contentment wishing this peaceful moment could last forever.

"Why did you lie?"

Sakura jolted back in surprise, turning quickly to face the door where the voice had come from.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke ignored her question as he continued to lean against the door frame. "Why did you lie?" he asked again, this time more firmly.

Sakura bit her lip slightly. "I-I don't know. I suppose…I didn't want you three to worry."

Sasuke snorted. "Please, I heard what you said to those girls. You said in the beginning you took those beatings to get my attention. So why did you lie when I asked you about your bruises?"

"It may have started out that way," Sakura began slowly. "But, soon I realized that even if you did find out about the 'beatings' you would only think I was weak for taking them. I didn't want you to hate me even more so I tried to fight back. Unfortunatly instead of stopping the attacks it only made them worse. Soon they started brining more and more girls and then I couldn't fight anymore. Still I kept trying because I knew that you and Naruto would never give up on something like that so easily."

"But why didn't you just tell us?"

"You all had your own problems to deal with," Sakura responded as she glanced down at her clasped hands resting in her lap. "I didn't want you to have to bother with mine as well."

"Aww, come on Sakura-chan!" Naruto suddenly said as his head popped through the door frame. "We're your teammates! We're supposed to deal with each other's problems!"

"Naruto's right in a way, Sakura," Kakashi added as he entered the room reading his perverted book. "We are all supposed to be there for each other."

Tears filled the pink haired girl's eyes as she looked at the three most important men in her life. These where her friends. Her real friends. Her family.

"Thanks guys," she whispered with a smile.

Since it was already past visiting hours the three knew they had to leave but they made sure to wave good-bye as they left the room. Once they were all past the door Sakura slid under her covers and shifted to get comfortable.

"Hey," Sasuke called out to her from the nearly closed door. "If something like this happens again you better tell us. I don't want to see another bruise on you again."

"Hai," Sakura responded with a smile as the door clicked closed. "Heehee," she giggled. "Who knew the best way to soften him up would be a bruise?"

The End!

* * *

Kaliea: This…didn't turn out the way I had planed but, whatever. Please review! I really appreciate them! Till next time, ja ne! 


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